Renewable Energy and Business: The Case of Solarcity Essay

Global warming and climate change is one of the most pressing issues in the contemporary society given its continued impacts on human life and the world’s ecosystem. The considerable effects of this issue have raised huge concerns among policymakers, governments, and the public. As a result, various initiatives have been developed in attempts to lessen global warming or climate change, especially those related to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases to the Earth’s atmosphere. Governments across the globe including the United Kingdom government have adopted various policies that focus on dealing with the issue. There are various policies that help in dealing with the issue including lessening greenhouse gases emissions, adapting to the effects of climate change, and geo-engineering of the climate system. The attempts by the UK government to address this problem require an understanding of the increasing energy demands and its future impact and use of suitable renewable energy sources.

Renewable energy’s increasingly greater power output has “made wind and solar more competitive with fossil fuels in many regions” (Warrick). In fact, renewable energy has improved so much, both financially and technologically, that many “developing economies will ultimately choose renewables over cheap coal”, enabling them to “skip over a generation of technology” (Warrick). Hydropower, geothermal energy, solar energy, and wind energy will only keep improving in power output until they inevitably become the best choice for electricity. Now that private tech companies have begun to back renewables, their technology is increasing at an extraordinary pace. With more prominent business leaders supporting renewables, the public is more inclined to accept them. People like Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (and many other companies), fund and promote clean energy projects to raise popular support and develop new renewable technologies. Some people argue, however that renewable energy will never produce enough energy to power the entire United States. After all, “by 2016, wind energy accounted for just over 6.7 percent of U.S. electricity production” and solar energy sits at just “0.6 percent” (Renewable). While this number seems extremely low, it has been increasing rapidly. In 2012, “solar energy accounted for only 0.2 percent of the electricity

Since the gasoline and fuel oil shortages of the 1970’s, the topic of renewable energy has been

Renewable energy has currently become a significant aspect in the countries generation, combination, and a constitution focus of government policy for energy, and environmental protection. As a result of public’s growing responsibility for the environment and constantly binding rules, and regulations of emission in the electric power industry, government has facilitated policies to boost the amount of renewable energy in the electricity generation portfolio. Additionally, the generation of electricity from renewable resources creates insufficient, and frequently, zero emissions of pollutants that comes from traditional fossil fuel production technologies. The additional use of renewable energy aids utilities in their emission agreement obligations. Furthermore, the anticipation of agreement with any future carbon emissions management would further toughen the incentive to move towards cleaner electricity creating technologies (Langwith, 2009).

SolarCity is to dominate the market space by becoming a household name and set the standard of excellence for all solar installation contractors in North America (“SolarCity”, 2012).

I originally reasoned that renewable energy was effective and because it could not run out, it was a much better option. But, the credibility and reasoning of Spector’s argument, along with the fallacious arguments of the Union of Concerned Scientists, I now believe that renewable energy is not beneficial to energy companies. After looking at numerous articles, it was clear that the UCS purposefully overlooked many facts that rendered their argument, and article, useless. They had disregarded the sheer ineffectiveness of renewable energy and the previous failures of implementing renewable energy (Jogulekar, Scientific American). For example, Germany, a world leader in renewable energy, tried to go all solar, but they failed, having to eventually import nuclear energy from France and opening up coal plants. Jogulekar asserts that Germany would have created less carbon dioxide if they simply stuck to nuclear energy. Spector asserts that a 100% renewable energy grid is far from beneficial, it is not even feasible. Looking at all arguments, I agree with Spector and that nuclear energy should be implemented and is far more beneficial to energy companies for a few reasons – because of its reliability, its low carbon emission and its extreme efficiency. I have come to the conclusion that switching to renewable energy is not beneficial to energy companies as there are many other low carbon alternatives. Spector’s arguments and his article is more reliable than the UCS’s. For this reason, renewable energy is not beneficial to energy companies, and nuclear energy, because it is more efficient and reliable, should be

The solar energy industry creates jobs. The Central Valley is a major hub of agriculture in the United States. The produce in the valley varies from vegetables, fruits, wine, dairy products and fruit juices. To sustain Agribusiness in the region, businessmen and farmers needed to cut the cost of running their farms and ranch. The ability to cut the energy bills has helped many businesses to remain profitable and sustain the livelihood of many families. The increase in Solar Energy in the valley started to grow exponentially in the last decade. The Fresno Bee article, “Valley Solar Firms Shine …,” by Sandford Nax talks about the acceleration of solar company expansion and job creation. Sanford presents the different reasons for the solar

In contrast, some believe that renewable energy is a key factor involved in helping the economy to grow. Many jobs are created in the manufacturing and running of renewable energy plants. The renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies created 8.5 million new jobs and $970 billion in revenue in the year 2006 (Langwith, “Renewable Energy is Economically”). The American Solar Energy Society says by 2030 it could generate up to $4.5 trillion in revenue for the U.S and create 40 million new jobs. This would represent one in every four jobs (Langwith, “Renewable Energy is Economically”). This shows how vital it is to get renewable energy companies in the U.S. It is important to build a stable economy again and do it all while helping the environment.

Generating and supplying more green energy in the US can have a big impact in the environment and in our economy. With more green energy resources a big amount disasters that affect our environment can be reduced. Such disasters include oil spills, nuclear leaks and the emission of harmful pollutants. Electric power plants are one of the biggest contributors to pollution in the country due to the amount of carbon and sulfur dioxides that are released into the air. Carbon dioxide emitted into the air is confirmed to contribute to global warming and sulfur dioxide causes acid rain, which can kill plants and animals in lakes and rivers. In comparison, green energy is generated in much more natural and harmless methods that don’t affect our environment. Renewable energy wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass provides substantial benefits for our climate, and our health.

Sunpower Corporation is an American solar energy company which manufactures, designs and deliver high efficiency solar solutions for homes, businesses and utilities by being a global solar energy solutions company and technology leader. Sunpower was founded in 1985 by Dr. Richard Swanson, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University and its headquarters situated in San Jose, California, and the Company also operates in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and North America. The main goal of the company was to commercialize solar concentrator technology. (Sunpower Corporation, 2016; SRI World Group Inc, 2016; Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015)

The SunPower Company is an up and coming manufacturer and seller of photovoltaic (PV) panels. As a young company with a strong desire for innovation they operate in an atmosphere where competition is very high and SunPower and the competition continue to fight for market shares. For SunPower management team to promote its growth will need to make sound decisions to ensure it stays competitive with the market. As seen in 2008, with other solar companies already dominating the market, increasing sales was an imperative goal to achieve its main objective to maximize profit.

Bilen et al., (2008:1531) predicted that global energy consumption will account for around 85% of the increase in world primary demand over 2002– 2030. The increasing of global energy demand happens the global stock of fossil fuel resources may be adequate for short term period, thus requiring the development of renewable energy sources, which would not decrease the stock of fossil fuel resources available for future generation. There is an increasing interest in the development of renewable energies such as biofuel and wind power, which have a great potential energy to produce enough power for the world’s population demand.

Solar energy and its use isn’t new to the world. It has been used by various societies beginning from 7thCentury B.C, when the sun’s heat was concentrated by glass and mirrors to light fires. Today, we have everything from solar-powered buildings to solar-powered vehicles. By and large solar technology has some environmental, economic, psychological and ethical implications for our society. Actions taken by companies and individuals to increase the use of solar technology will create good local jobs, improve our environment and reduce our dependence on foreign oil while doing what’s ethical and moral for our society.

Energy is a critical component for every economy and society around the world. Energy is divided into two groups, nonrenewable (coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear) with a finite amount found around the globe and renewable (hydro, tidal, solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass) that are constantly being replenished so that they will never run out (Green Energy Choice, 2011). The international economic impact of renewable energy is explored by examining subsidies, strategic policies, and comparative advantage of renewable energy.

Energy is a crucial necessity and with the ever increasing need for it and the high and fluctuating prices of oil, researchers are constantly coming up with newer and more sophisticated alternative sources of energy. However, energy comes at a cost, as it is either expensive or it possesses high health risks. This essay presents the concept of energy by discussing the two major types of energy, the various forms it could take, including renewable sources of energy, energy conservation and above all it talks about the safest and cleanest alternatives.